A complete guide to the Hockey India League auctions

Sardar Singh, Jamie Dwyer and Teun de Nooijer are the brand ambassadors of Hockey India League.

The popular Indian Premier League is going to have a new clone in the Indian sports arena when the Hockey India League auctions take place in New Delhi on Sunday, 13 Dec 2012.

The hockey counterpart of the giant cricket league is scheduled to start from 17 January 2013. And unlike the ICC, FIH, the international hockey body, has provided a separate window in its international calendar for the event. Also, ESPN STAR Sports has signed a multi-year deal with Hockey India (HI) for the broadcast of the event, which will feature top players from India and abroad.

However, not everything is as great as it looks from outside. The league, which was to feature 6 franchises from across the country, is yet to find a bidder for its 6th team, Bangalore. So far, only 5 franchises have been bought – Lucknow, Punjab, Ranchi, Delhi and Mumbai.

Despite the absence of the final franchise, Hockey India League is set to go ahead with the auctions tomorrow. “Negotiations are on. We are hopeful of finalising a deal before Sunday. But even if that is not the case, we will go ahead with five teams in the auction,” said Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra.

Out of the total 245 players available, 144 (in case of 6 teams) will be picked by the franchises in the auction tomorrow (24 for each team). For the 6th team, in case the franchise is picked later, late entry may not cost too much, if one goes by the words of Narinder Batra.

“The sixth team can join later and can have access to players who have not been acquired in the auction. There is also the provision of franchises trading players. So, the sixth franchise can have a strong squad despite making a late entry,” Batra added.

Franchises:

1. Lucknow – owned by Sahara India Pariwar.

2. Punjab – owned by Jaypee Group.

3. Ranchi – owned by Patel-Uniexcel Group.

4. Delhi – owned by Wave Group (The group, owned by late business tycoon Ponty Chadha, will continue to support HIL despite Mr. Chadha’s demise).

5. Mumbai – owned by the Burman family, promoters of Dabur India Ltd.

6. Bangalore – unsold.

Marquee Players:

Another concept borrowed from the IPL, each HIL franchise will own one of these marquee players:

1. Sardar Singh (India)

2. Sandeep Singh (India)

3. SV Sunil (India)

4. Jamie Dwyer (Australia)

5. Teun de Nooijer (Netherlands)

6. Moritz Fuertse (Germany)

Furthermore, each franchise will have a purse of $643000 and will be owning a player for a period of 3 years upon successful bidding. The maximum amount that can be bid for a single player is $58700. The minimum base price for an Indian player is $2800, while for a foreign player, the amount is $5000.

For the bidding of the marquee players, the franchises will have to make a silent bid before the start of the auction. Hockey India will then announce the marquee player for each franchise, on the basis of the maximum bids placed for the player. Each round of auction will involve bidding of 10 defenders, 10 midfielders, 10 forwards and all 25 goalkeepers.

Top Indian players in the auction (according to base price)

Sardar Singh: $27,800

Sandeep Singh: $27,800

Bharat Chhetri: $18,500

Gurbaj Singh: $18,550

Shivdendra Singh: $18,550

PR Sreejesh: $13,900

Ignace Tirkey: $13,900

Danish Mujtaba: $13,900

VR Raghunath: $13,900

Gurwinder Singh Chandi: $13,900

SV Sunil: $13,900

Tushar Khandker: $13,900

Sarvanjit Singh: $13,900

Top foreign players in the auction (according to base price)

Jamie Dwyer (Australia): $25,000

Take Taekema (Netherlands): $25,000

Moritz Fuertse (Germany): $25,000

Teun De Nooijer (Netherlands): $25,000

Glenn Turner (Australia): $25,000

Pol Amat (Spain): $25,000

Floris Evers (Netherlands): $25,000

Oliver Korn (Germany): $25,000

Ramon Alegre (Spain): $25,000

David Alegre (Spain): $25,000

Ashley Jackson (England): $25,000

Mahmood Rashid (Pakistan): $25,000

Dean Couzins (New Zealand): $25,000

Liam De Young (Australia): $25,000

Imran Mohammad (Australia): $25,000

Pirmin Blaak (Netherlands): $20,000

Jaap Stockmaann (Netherlands): $20,000

Fransisco Cortes (Spain): $20,000

Mark Knowles (Australia): $20,000

Austin Smith (South Africa): $20,000

Mohammad Rizwan Sr (Pakistan): $20,000

Simon Child (New Zealand): $20,000

Luke Doerner (Australia): $20,000

The auctions will start at 10 AM on 16th December, 2012.